Preview: The saxophonist leads a veteran quartet Thurday
If variety is the spice of life, saxophonist, flute player and occasional pianist Marcus Benoit leads a very spicy musical life. Beginning in Germany, he’s played soul, funk, jazz, rockabilly and Americana.
Today, it’s jazz, with improvisation – “the whole point of jazz,” he said.
With Joe Finn, guitar; Pete Toigo, bass and Mike Benedict drums, he’ll “try to find an arrangement that will make (a song) unique,” he said – to “ride the path between musical territory I am familiar with, and…explore things that happen in the moment, on the bandstand.”
Marcus Benoit; photo from his Bandcamp Page
Benoit’s musical territory expanded from school ensembles and horn bands playing James Brown funk to hits for GIs at on-base clubs and off-base bars in Germany. “I was an Army brat and lived in Munich,” he said, learning from sax players he heard over Radio Free Europe and on his parents’ records.
Following his father into uniform, he later joined the Air Force and played in its Field Band. He also followed the bar-band footsteps of uncles who played as the Bewa Brothers in the 1950s. After studies at the College of St. Rose and SUNY Albany, he became an Albany schools music teacher; now retired.
He also learned from area jazz giants saxophonist Nick Brignola and pianist Lee Shaw; also jazz pianist Walter Bishop Jr. and woodwinds player Joe Allard, both in New York.
His longest steady jazz gig was with pianist Cole Broderick’s Quartet, live and on Broderick’s four “Seasons of Saratoga” albums (1994-’98); Benoit also released his own album, “Round One” (2003).
“We will do some jazz standards and some more blues/funk oriented songs,” said Benoit of today’s show. Undecided about what originals they might play, they’ll surely perform some standards; likely the spry bebop “Well You Needn’t” (Thelonious Monk), the romantic rocker “Summer Rain,” best-known in Johnny Rivers’s hit version; Roberta Flack’s soul-pop smash “Killing Me Softly With His Song,” and “St. Thomas, the swinging Sonny Rollins calypso.
Next up, Benoit said, “My entire summer is mostly booked up with dates with the Lustre Kings” – guitarist Mark Gamsjager’s long-running rockabilly band.
Jazz on Jay continues next Thursday, June 25, with Grudecki, Shoudy and Hearn with Special Guest Matt Steckler.
Jazz on Jay is presented by the ElectriCity Arts and Entertainment District.
Sponsors are the New York State Council on the Arts, a Schenectady County Legislature Arts & Culture Grant, Downtown Schenectady Improvement Corporation and The Schenectady Foundation. We also receive support from Schenectady City Hall and Hoke’s Jukebox.
Show time is 12 noon at Jay Square opposite City Hall. Rain site: Robb Alley at Proctors.
Hoke's Jukebox 